First Stop

salta is a beautiful town with lots of old Colonial buildings,as its based at the foot of the mountains and 1200m above sea level there is a lot to do.We spend a day kite buggying which i found really difficult and mal loved.It was a great day, on the way there the instructor drove us up the mountain so we got the most stunning views. We were up so high that nothing grew only Catui.At one point we were above the clouds it wasnt sunny but Mals face got really burnt.
We spent another day white water rafting and Canopying which was crazy. The rafting was great fun and had lots of rapids,at one point we lost mal and he got the biggest bruise on his thigh trying to get back in the boat!!.After a really good Barbaque which was included in the day we went canopying (which i hadnt thought to look into before signing up for it). Basically you climb up a mountain then they put you in a harness (like a nappy how attractive!)and give you a pair of gardening gloves and you have to make your way across this cable from canyon to canyon with lakes and stuff underneath. I can safely say that i have never been so scared in all my life (and remember guys i Absailed off Twickenham stadium for Cancer research!!). The biggest was 140 mts high and 500 mts Long (also the biggest in South America)not a good time to find out you have a fear of heights!. There were nine cables (or runs) in total funny that .....whats that they say about having nine lives!!!

We arrived in Puerto Iguazu two days after leaving Ushuaia we stayed a night in Rio Grande as we were flying from there to Buenos Aires. The weather in Iguazu was great and much welcomed after the freezing nights in Ushuaia. Puerto Iguazu shares borders with Brazil and Paraguay,we stood on the banks of the Rio Parana and we could see all three countries. We met some fellow Paddies and needless to say had a couple of late nights!. After copious amounts of alcohol we deceided that we should buy a camper van and do a road trip together (6 of us!) but the next day they left for Paraguay (drink talk!!).
We went to Parque Nacional Iguazu the only reason for our visit to Puerto Iguazu (to see the famous Iguazu falls).The falls are based in this huge park which is like a sub tropical rain forest. The falls are absolutly breathtaking the best part is Garganta del Diablo or The Devils Throat.I think we can safely say that we got as close as possible we took a boat ride around it and went underneath it with a crazy driver, we got soaked the noise of the water is unreal and the speed at which it falls actually hurts your skin.We had to walk around for the rest of the day dripping wet. We took a really old train across the park which brings you to a point where you cross lots of little walkways and then you get the best views of all the falls.The park itself has loads of lovely wildlife the prettiest butterflies just land on you in amazing colours.We also saw a Toucan (just like the Guinness ad!).
I spent a day on The Brazalian side of the falls while Mal opted to go fishing and get ravaged by a dog!.
Foz Do Iguacu (as the Brazalians call it)gives you great views of both sides of the falls (both brazil and Argentina)and more panaromic views but you dont get as close as you do on the Argentinan side. Apart from the falls there isnt much else to see in Iguazu so we only stayed a couple of days.

It takes 30 hours to get from Bariloche to El Calafate so we stopped in Rio Gallegios for a night as we had to wait until morning for a connecting bus. Big mistake, Rio Gallegios is a small bleek coal shipping town with nothing to see and we had to stay in a hotel (as there were no hostels)that cunningly resembled the hotel in The Shining!!.We were more than happy to arrive in El Calafate and find a really cool hostel.El Calafate is a small town which relies on tourists visiting the area for bread.Like every other tourist visiting the area the reason for our visit was to see the 60m Moreno glacier and we were not dissapointed. We hired a car and drove there for sunrise it was amazing as it was an hour or two before we could see the extent of the glacier in front of us (and we had it to ourselves!).
It is the most amazing thing i have ever seen for once i was speechless!.We just stood for hours watching huge ice peaks sheer off into the water and the deafening noise they made before turning into icebergs in the water,Mal was pretty impressed too.After our morning at the glacier we drove a further 50km to do a spot of fishing(twice in one year!)on our way we stopped to have a picnic and just a couple of hundred yards from us were about half a dozen pink flamingos and some black and white swans which apparently are unique to Argentina.
We drove for hours without meeting a single car it was beautiful but i handed the car back to Mal when the road turned into a river!!.No luck with the fishing so we had to shop for dinner.We hung around El Calafate for a few days as the hostel was great and we met some cool people plus i had a dodgy stomach from some prawns i ate in a restaurant and couldnt face the 16 hour bus journey to Ushuaia!

Ushuaia
We arrived in Ushuaia (the worlds southernmost city)late at night,it was cold and very windy so we deceided to take a room at a hostel close to the bus terminal rather than spend ages looking for a decent one (bigger mistake than the shinning style hotel!!)it was run by an old man with a really strange dog who listen to this...got his son out of bed to give us the room and didnt change the bed clothes!!.Needless to say we moved to a nicer place in the morning.
We went on a boat trip in the Beagle Channel which brought us to the lighthouse which marks the southernmost point before Antarctia. We stopped at bird island and some colonies of sealions. The sealions are beautiful they come right up to the boat but they are really noisy and a bit smelly!.Mal was a little bit dissapointed that there were no Penguins or killer Whales apperently they only stay in the channel between October and March.Ushuaia also has a glacier called the Martial glacier but a little dissapointing after seeing the Moreno glacier it looked like an ice cube!.
We didnt stay very long in Ushuaia as we were short for time as we had to head back up north.

Bariloche or to give it its full title San Carlos de Bariloche anyway after a very comfortable nineteen hour bus journey we got here!!.The bus company that we travelled with was great was better than flying first class with most airlines the seats have loads of leg room and you get this big thing to put your feet up on,they feed you give you wine and you watch videos(anyone from Bus Eireann please take note!!).
We managed to get a room in an amazing hostel called La Bolsa Del Deporte, more like a hotel than hostel but cheap. The whole building is made from wood and the interior decor is fab, they have cable tv too so Mal can watch the premiership!!

Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi (Argentinas oldest and most popular national park)surrounds the city of Bariloche and has so much to offer it contains many lakes and mountains.We spent an afternoon Kayaking which was great fun the instructor brought us the whole way across the lake and gave us coffee and buns!!.I got absolutly soaked and Mal remained dry even though we were in the same Kayak.....(funny that!!).

The next day when i recovered from my soaking, we hired a car and Mal drove (driving is very scary here apart from having to drive on the right hand side of the road,the gears are on the right too,and this place is full of the steepest hills i have ever seen so we both agreed that my clutch control may not be up to it!!!).We drove 80km to a small town east of the Chilean border called Villa La Angostura its a beautiful little town that sits at the tip of a peninsula.
On the way back we stopped in the mountains and had a picnic and Mal deceided to do a spot of fishing. It was a georgeous day and the fishing looked easy so i had a go and got hooked after a couple of attempts(no pun intended!!)determined to catch dinner until i lost the bait(whoops).

Nights in Bariloche are fun too. We met a really nice English bloke and an Irish couple (who we plan to meet in Bolivia).We drank many bottles of Tinto Vino with them and took it in turns to cook. One night we headed out to an Irish bar called "The Wilkenny"!(i know the owner obviously isnt Irish!!).
Never the less we stayed there drinking the local brew till Mal fell asleep and i got the hiccups then headed back up the dreaded hill at about 05.00am.

We arrived in Buenos Aries on Tuesday morning after a fifteen and a half hour flight(for some reason we thought the flight was only twelve hours!!).It was twenty two degrees when we arrived so needless to say we dropped our bags off at the hostel and found a bar with a beer garden!.We spent a couple of days chilling out,getting over the jet lag and sussing out this amazing city. Buenos Aries is a fantastic city like no city i have ever been in the streets are so wide (even wider than the Avenues in New York)and constantly buzzing with people,everything stays open almost twenty four hours,the bars till six!.Then just a few blocks away is the old part of the city,amazing you would think you were in another part of the world its full of tiny streets with really brightly panited old wooden houses.

The hostel we are staying at is called Downtown Mate (pronounced matae)which is the tradational drink in Argentina really bizzare its like ground leaves they put in a litte wooden cup and drink through a straw, it tastes like a really strange tea people here carry around the wooden cup everywhere they go with a thermos flask of water to keep topping it up!! Malcolm is addicted already.The people in the hostel are fab and give free spanish lessons(very useful)although the hostel its self is pretty basic (no locks on shower doors!)

We took a day trip to Uruguay on saturday which was fab,It only took a couple of hours by boat and wasnt that expensive either. We hired out a scooter and went all around the town of Colonia really old town on the coast breath taking views and beautiful beaches.On Sunday we went to the tradational market in San Thelmo which was fab hundreds of stall selling beautiful crafts and art had to restrain myself from buying stuff as wont be able to carry it!!Will post some photos soon.